2008-01-24 Opt in for b2b spam

January 23rd was a historic day in the Netherlands. Our government
finally levelled rules on all unsollicited e-mail:
previously, business-to-consumer spam required an 'opt-in'
(subscription) by the recipient. Spammers who only provided an opt-out
link in their mail would get fined. Unfortunately, when these rules
were introduced years ago, business-to-business spam was somehow overloooked.
As of yesterday, the same rules apply to business-to-business
spam. If you want to receive spam, you have to request it - whether
you are a consumer, or act on behalf of a company. This might not seem
like a big deal, but in my opinion, it is. The website of the Dutch
Chamber of Commerce freely provides contact e-mail addresses of
companies, which are abused by b2b spammers. "Advertise on our radio
station!" "Buy cheaper DVD's!" "Would you like to reach 350.000
consumers at once?" Well, no more of that. The first mail spams that I
receive are going to be forwarded to the Opta, the Dutch telecom
watchdog.